Rechargeable Lithium Metal Pouch Cell Development

Commercially available Li-ion batteries using graphite or graphite-silicon blended anodes are currently approaching a cell level specific energy of 300 Wh kg−1. The use of lithium metal instead as an anode an intriguing possibility to further increase cell level specific energies to 400 Wh kg−1 and beyond. Lithium is an ideal anode because it is the lightest metal and highly electronegative. However, attempts to commercialize cells using lithium metal anodes have been slowed by poor cycle life and safety issues. This is because nonuniform lithium plating leads to the growth of dendrites that cause loss of active lithium and can eventually lead to internal cell shorts. Safe cell cycle life must be improved to 50-100 cycles for special purpose applications like unmanned aerial vehicles, >300 cycles for portable power applications and >1000 cycles for electric vehicle applications. The performance of prototype cells developed at EaglePicher Technologies using lithium metal anode will be highlighted. The figure below on the left shows the specific discharge energy of a 2.5 Ah prototype pouch cell using a lithium anode, high nickel cathode and nonaqueous electrolyte. The cell demonstrates an extremely high specific energy of >400 Wh kg−1 at low rates. The effect of electrolyte on capacity retention is shown in the figure below on the right. The optimized electrolyte demonstrates good retention to >50 cycles. This presentation will focus on design considerations for pouch cells with lithium anodes, as well as improving the cycle life and safety characteristics of these cells. Prototype performance data including cycle life, rate capability, temperature effects and safety testing will be presented. EaglePicher Technologies would like to acknowledge the US Army DEVCOM C5ISR Center in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland for funding this research. Figure 1